cold comfort

English

Etymology

Popularized by William Shakespeare in The Taming of the Shrew, see quotations.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

cold comfort (countable and uncountable, plural cold comforts)

1. (idiomatic) Much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 221, column 1:

     […] or ſhall I complaine on thee to our miſtris, whoſe hand / (ſhe being now at hand) thou ſhalt ſoone feele, to thy / cold comfort, for being ſlow in thy hot office.

   • 1863, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 6, in Miles Wallingford‎^[1]:

     The table was smoking and hissing; and Romeo Clawbonny, who acted as the everyday house-servant, or footman, had several times intimated that it might be well to commence operations, as a cold breakfast was very cold comfort.

   • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 9, in At the Earth's Core:

     At least I should not die alone. Human eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.

   • 2010 April 8, Ben Lando, “U.S. Officials Downplay Rash of Baghdad Attacks”, in Time‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 July 2013:

     But statistics are cold comfort when the latest explosion has leveled a nearby building.

Translations

much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不起作用的安慰 (bù qǐ zuòyòng de ānwèi)

• Finnish: laiha lohtu
• German: schwacher Trost m
• Hungarian: sovány vigasz (hu)
• Irish: brachán ó aréir m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: сла́бое утеше́ние n (sláboje utešénije)
• Welsh: cysur bach m

References

• “cold comfort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.